Olivier Kapo secured three vital points for Blues as his first half strike was enough to overcome a battling Bolton side at a packed St. Andrew's this afternoon.

The Frenchman poked out his long left leg to divert Sebastian Larsson's cross past Jussi Jaaskelainen to notch his second goal for the club.

Steve Bruce's side were made to fight to the end for the victory to become the first Premier League club to prevent Wanderers from scoring a goal in 21 league games.

It was a greatly deserved clean sheet too as the Blues back four were magnificent throughout the afternoon and withstood from concerted pressure from the visitors late on.

It was also fitting that Larsson was involved in the winning goal as he produced a man-of-the-match performance in the Blues midfield.

Bruce made three changes from the side that lost to Middlesbrough a fortnight ago with Radhi Jaidi, Stuart Parnaby and Mikael Forssell replaced by Franck Queudrue, Mehdi Nafti and Gary McSheffrey.

Bolton's confidence was likely to be a little fragile after four defeats in their opening five games and Blues tested their early resolve with some intense attacking play in the opening stages.

Cameron Jerome used his strength to get first to Liam Ridgewell's long clearance and, with the keeper off his line, the striker attempted a lob but failed with the execution and the ball rolled harmlessly wide.

Larsson was next to bear down on the visitors' goal after latching onto Kapo's through ball but he saw his shot blocked by JLloyd Samuel.

The former Aston Villa defender denied the same Blues man again moments later when Larsson looked to pull the trigger after getting into a good position to the right of the six yard box but he had the ball taken off his toes by the Bolton full back.

Bolton survived the early onslaught from the home side and went close to opening the scoring themselves when the ball broke to Kevin Nolan on the edge of the box but he fired just wide.

The early excitement continued at the other end when Kapo glanced on Larson's free kick and Jaaskelainen had to be alert to turn the ball aside for a corner.

Ridgewell was inches away from connecting to McSheffrey's free-kick as Blues continued their up-tempo start to the game.

Samuel was clearly in the mood to impress on his return to the Second City as the ex-Villa man embarked on a jinking run inside the area which ended with a fierce shot from a narrow angle that Maik Taylor did well to beat over the bar.

This sparked a period of pressure from visitors with El-Hadji Diouf at the centre of most of the best Bolton moves, with his every touch greeted with a chorus of boos from the homes fans who remember an unpleasant incident in a previous game against Bolton.

After the encouraging start, Blues failed to maintain the fast-flowing football and the play became a little scrappy.

Nolan earned the first booking of the game after his foul on Larsson and McSheffrey bent the resultant free-kick just inches over the bar.

But just moments later Blues were ahead with the start and the end of the move coming courtesy of their French Connection.

Queudrue's free kick from inside his own half found Larsson who curled in a dangerous in-swinging cross and Kapo was able to stretch out his leg to divert the ball over the line despite the frantic efforts of Jaaskelainen to keep it out.

Half-time: Blues 1 Bolton 0

Jerome fired wide just after the interval but chances were few and far between at the start of the second half as the game became untidy and littered with niggly fouls.

Liam Ridgewell and Gary Speed both went into the referee's notebook for trips on Diouf and Nafti.

The Bolton fans were appealing for a penalty when Nafti dispossessed Diouf inside the area but the Blues midfielder clearly took the ball.

Bruce's charges finally began to lift their game again and Larsson saw a 20-yard piledriver turned aside by Jaaskelainen.

The hosts won a corner moments later which came to nothing but from a quick counter attack Bolton engineered their best goal-scoring chance of the game.

Substitute Daniel Braaton played a neat one-two with Diouf and raced through towards goal only for the Norwegian to see his shot blocked by a magnificent sliding tackle by Stephen Kelly.

The visitors lost Samuel on 73 minutes after he was taken from the field on a stretcher following an innocuous challenge from Larsson.

Jerome won a free kick on the edge of the box after his storming run was brought to an end by Nicky Hunt's trip with the Bolton man earning a booking.

From the set piece Blues came frustratingly close to gaining a two-goal cushion as Larsson's curling shot flew over the wall and struck the underside of the bar.

The officials ruled that the ball did not cross the line as it bounced down and up and away from danger.

The linesman was called upon again to rule that the ball hadn't crossed the line as Johan Djourou met Larsson's corner only to see his header hacked off the line by Gavin McCann as Blues continued to search for that evasive second goal.

Home hearts were in mouths when Hunt let fly with a thundering shot that dipped just over Maik Taylor's crossbar with five minutes remaining.

Blues were pushed back in the late stages as the visitors looked in a vain for an equaliser that never came.

In fact it was the home side that came closest to grabbing the game's second goal as McSheffrey's volley floated just over the bar.

There was still time for both Oubina and Rafael Schmitz to make their Blues debuts as the home side saw out three crucial Premier League points.

Blues: Maik Taylor, Franck Queudrue, Liam Ridgewell, Stephen Kelly, Johan Djourou, Sebastian Larsson, Mehdi Nafti, Gary McSheffrey (Rafael Schmitz 90), Olivier Kapo, Fabrice Muamba (Oubina 87), Cameron Jerome (Garry O'Connor 90).
Subs (not used): Richard Kingson, Mikael Forssell.
Goal: Kapo (37)
Bookings: Ridgewell (55)

Bolton: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Nicky Hunt, JLloyd Samuel (Ricardo Gardner 73), Andy O'Brien (Gerald Cid 77), Abdoulaye Meite, Kevin Nolan, Mikel Alonso (Daniel Braatan 54), El-Hadji Diouf, Nicolas Anelka, Gavin McCann, Gary Speed.
Subs (not used): Ali Al Habsi, Kevin Davies.
Bookings: Nolan (34), Speed (56), Hunt (75)

Referee: P Dowd (Staffs)

Attendance: 28,124